I love Brit humor. British entertainment on the whole is more bawdy, deadpan, cheap, classy, and more MORE than the crap churned out by US TV and movie studios. I’ll grant you, we have better special effects. They have better writers and the best tactics for screwing with your brain. Their actors aren’t 3/4 Botox and 1/4 silicone.
Sadly, that same creative insanity doesn’t extend to all of Europe.
I’ve watched subtitled films from other countries, which were occasionally sort of interesting. Several years ago I watched a French film with a fair amount of nudity. It was boring. Like, ridiculously, falling-asleep boring. It wasn’t that I didn’t understand. I understood it all, and it was all B-0-R-I-N-G. I watched it because it had good reviews, if I remember right. About twenty minutes in, I kept waiting for it to get interesting. An hour in I was still waiting, before I finally turned the channel.
A message to the French filmmakers: watch some Benny Hill or Monty Python for cheeky humor. Watch some of the family-friendly sitcoms like Last of the Summer Wine for wholesome stuff. (Bonus points because you get to learn the proper use of “thee” and “thou”, without sitting through nonstop Shakespeare.) Hey, France: if you want to do nudity, fine, but nudity alone doesn’t cut it. Even the cheapest porn has better plot lines than the movie I sat halfway through, and a whole lot more action.
I’m sure France is responsible for some interesting flicks. I might track one down someday, but this isn’t the day.
I’m up waaay too late again. My body can’t figure out when to sleep and when to be awake. I think I’m going to try and pursue that weird stuff called “sleep”, for now. Ciao!
Go watch Philomena Cunk’s “Moments of Wonder” series, “Philomena Cunk on Christmas”, “on England”, and her tribute to Winston Churchill. You can thank me later.
I found and started watching. I think I might be in love. Straight-faced, never cracks a smile. Priceless.
I can’t believe I forgot my favorite episode, especially since you’re such a literary poobah: “Cunk on Shakespeare”. You gotta watch it!
I saw an interview with the comedienne who plays Cunk. She said she probably won’t do any more, as so many people now know her that it’s getting hard to set up interviews with people who think she’s a serious presenter making a serious documentary (check out the Medieval scholar lady’s face when Cunk asks, “Is it true Arthur came a lot? I mean, more than the usual tablespoon or so of most blokes?”). The good news: she might take the show to America, where she can confuse a whole new slew of experts!
BTW, I gathered from the interview that the North Country accent she affects for the show would be akin in America to Larry the Cable Guy dressing in a suit and going to Harvard. Hers is just as jarring a juxtaposition for the Brits 🙂
I’m still working so can only watch in spurts for the moment. Definitely my kind of humor!